


for your eyes only (i’ll show you my heart)

by boobear_meets_hazza



Category: Bates Motel (2013)
Genre: Alternate Ending, F/M, Fluff, Home, Normero, figured this could be my closure, obsessed with normero
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-19 19:37:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14244303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boobear_meets_hazza/pseuds/boobear_meets_hazza
Summary: “I would love to see Norma just, you know, get fed up with all this [Norman] drama, and like, ride into the night with Mr. Romero.” — Vera FarmigaAn alternate ending of Batel Motel because Norma Bates deserved better.warning: spoilers





	1. i'll be your light

Alex Romero couldn’t shake last night’s events out of his mind. Norman has always seemed so innocent to him, undeniably odd at times, but innocent nonetheless. At least until last night, when he took his anger out on the blocks of wood under the gentle moonlight.

”Don’t you think she deserves a man in her life?” he had lastly said, when Norman stepped closer  with the axe pointing at him. He held his breath for a long while, hoping to the heavens he doesn’t swing it.

The boy’s eyes were cold and had become vacant, like the anger has completely taken his mind away. It was then that he knew he had to do everything in his power to get Norman back to Pineview or even behind bars. Either way, he can’t leave him alone with Norma.

So after a day of trying to work his magic and failing, he decides to return home whether or not Norma welcomes him. All he needs at the moment is to know that his wife is safe, nevermind if she hates him right now.

“Norma?” he calls out, knocking on the door, but there is no movement from the other side. It is eerily quiet. Getting no answer, he uses his key to unlock the door and heads directly upstairs to check in on the rooms.

On the bed, he finds Norman beside his wife, who he calls for once more. When she still doesn’t answer, panic courses through his veins, and he steps to her bedside in a hurry to wake her up.

He gets a whiff of the gas in the room, finding a chair and throwing it through a window for a breath of fresh air. He hastens to bring Norma to the hallway, opens the windows, and comes back to drag Norman out as well.

He rushes back to Norma, attempting to revive her with his clasped hands and quick breaths. Except as he does this, it is Norman who coughs himself awake, once he inhales a decent amount of oxygen.

“Baby, wake up,” he begs, cupping her face gently as he slowly loses hope. He slides an arm under her head and lifts her slightly as he continues, “come on, Norma, wake up.” He couldn’t tell if it were the heavens or just Norma herself who heard his wishes, because then she chokes up, still unconscious, but at least she is very much alive.

When Norma finally wakes up in her own hospital bed, it’s already nighttime of the next day. “Alex?” she speaks out with a hoarse voice as she sees her husband dozing off on a seat beside her.

“Norma,” he answers, bolting up immediately like he wasn’t asleep at all. A smile plasters his tired face, dark bags underneath his long lashes. Looming over her, he slides his hand down her arm carefully.

“What happened? Why am I here? Where’s Norman?” With her heartrate increasing, many questions escape Norma. She tries to sit up, but Alex stops her with warm steady hands on her shoulders.

”Just try to relax, Norma. Everything’s alright.” He coos, brushing lose strands of hair behind her ear. He grazes his fingertips against her smooth skin and it calms her a bit, but the sight of tubes to her nose brings the opposite to Alex.

His wife’s eyes flutter close for a moment, until a realization hits her: “You know I can’t relax until I know where Norman is, right? And I’m still mad at you. Tell me what happened.”

He sighs this time, knowing she wouldn’t take silence for an answer. He promises to explain everything as long as she keeps quiet, but she doesn’t necessarily agree when he starts. “Dylan and I got Norman back to Pineview.”

”You what?” Slowly, Norma’s heartrate picks up once more. She’s conflicted between feeling like they’ve gone around her back again, but her being in a hospital is also saying something.

”He’s dangerous, Norma. I would never forgive myself if I lose you.” 

He sees her eyes gloss over and he wishes he could just kiss away her pain. But there’s nothing he can do. “Just because I’m breathing doesn’t mean you have me, Alex!” she screams, sitting up. Her heartrate races but she manages to breathe in a way it stops escalating before it takes the attention of her doctor.

Her words rip his heart out and breaks it even more than it already had. Still, he knows her well enough to know that he shouldn’t lose his temper when she does. After all, he hasn’t explained everything yet. And so he did.

”He tried to kill you, Norma. He’s dangerous.” It hurts him to recall everything that happened, but he had to.

He explains how he came home with the old furnace on and all the vents were closed except for the one in their room. He tells her how he found out that Norman heard about the risk of using the furnace and how he used it anyway.

He tells her how Norman had admitted to it, how he practically spat at him to remind him he was an outsider to their close bond and that she had written the note because she was fully intent on leaving him.

He makes her aware of the conversation Norman claimed they had, that they talked about leaving and getting a fresh start. He tells her how Norman said their fresh start meant in another life.

”H-He couldn’t do that to me,” she whispers, her body shaking with her sobs. “It was miscommunication, he isn’t—” He could tell she was tired; tired from hearing the story, tired from recent events, tired of Norman, even tired of him, he supposes.

He wants to hold her in his arms, to tell her everything will be alright. But he couldn’t right now, not when she’s strapped up in all these hospital gear because he was almost just a little too late. Not when he knows her son would be the only one to make her feel better, and yet he’s the root of all the pain. Everything is just so conflicting.

Instead he just watches as she takes in all of the information. She looks straight at the ceiling, trying to process the bricks that have been added to the weight of her problems. What has she done wrong? What else does she need to do to fix him?

Can she fix him at all?

Alex accompanies Norma to Pineview to visit Norman. It has been the first thing to do in Norma’s imaginary list when she gets out of the hospital.

Norman has a different perspective on how it should go. He refuses to speak to Norma until the sheriff was out of the conversation so Alex had to watch their attempt of talking from afar.

He watches as Norma’s eyes well up once more, but she takes a step back whenever her son closes their distance. Norman loses his big boy act and starts crying then, his “sorry”s heard from Alex’ corner.

It is then that his phone starts ringing, so he leaves the room to a more secluded area. Upon answering, he hears a panicking Regina from the other end of the line.

“Alex, what is up with you and the DEA?” She says in a rushed but quiet manner. “They were just here, looking for you.”

His eyebrows furrow. What do they want now? “I don’t know, you know they hate me, blaming me for all the funny business happening in this town.”

“I shouldn’t be telling you this, but you’re the best sheriff this town has ever had, and I couldn’t bear to see you behind bars.” She lets out an exasperated sigh. “You’re wanted for perjury, Alex, and I’m not gonna ask you what you told them, but I figured you ought to know.”

“Thank you for telling me,” he says with the sincerity of his whole being. “I’m glad to know you’re still on my team.” Fewer words were exchanged by the time he hangs up and returns to the lounge.

He walks in the room to see Norma embracing his sobbing boy, her head in the nook of his neck. They stay in that position for a while, until she pulls away to sweep his fringe and places a kiss to his cheek before walking away.

On their ride home, both were deep in thought. “I need to tell you something,” Alex says as he glances at his bride, finally breaking the silence.

“Hmm?” she acknowledges, tilting her head against the window as she looks back at him.

“The DEA is out to get me,” he clenches his jaw for a while, taking a deep breath. “I’m wanted for perjury.”

“What?” she replies horrified. “What perjury?” She hides the tears pricking at her eyes as she looks out of her window.

“Remember Rebecca?” He utters, swallowing thickly. “They got her to try and have me speak about Bob Paris, his business and his death, but I caught on. I don’t know what it is exactly, but like I told you, the DEA hates me.”

Norma wipes at her eyes before looking back at him. Alex tears up as well at the sight of his wife. “So, what are you going to do now?”

“I, uhh... I think I’m turning myself in.”


	2. i'll make this feel like home

“I, uhh... I think I’m turning myself in.”

“You what?” Norma unbuckles her seatbelt and faces Alex directly. “Stop the car. Stop the car and talk to me.”

So they pull up to an empty road in the rural part of town. Anything more can quicken his ride to the DEA. “I’m the sheriff, Norma. It’s part of my obligation to my town.”

“Oh, shut up.” she rolls his eyes at him. “You’ve been thinking about everyone else in this town except yourself. Don’t you think that maybe you deserve more than what they throw at you?

“They wanted you to let them run the town with their illegal businesses. They act as if you’re their friend just to trap you in a little box, everyone’s knives stabbing you in the back. They shot you, torched your house and caused you so much trouble. You still think you owe them anything?”

In his spot behind the steering wheel, everything just falls into place. He understands now just how this woman has a mindset of her own. How she had to cover up the case with Keith Summers when it can pass as self-defense. How she had to stop the bypass from being built when it was well out of her hands. How she felt like she had to take care of the man extorting money from her or how she thought she was alone in trying to retrieve her son from his kidnappers.

He unbuckles his own seatbelt and gently pulls Norma, closing their distance. She quivers in his arms as she sobs, Alex tightening the embrace. He wants to tell her how sorry he is in behalf of everyone who has hurt her. But he doesn’t. Instead, he waits for her to speak again.

“I- I told Norman that I couldn’t fix him,” her voice comes out as a whisper, pain evident in every word. “That I wouldn’t be seeing him for a long while. That I’ve done my best but I couldn’t anymore. I told him that I wouldn’t be back until I’m sure he’s all better.”

Alex lets a pause linger for a while. “You did the right thing,” he says with his hand soothing circles in her back. They pull away for a quick kiss, his hands cupping the sides of her face. “So, what now?”

“Life hates the both of us, huh?” Smiles erupt from both of them, despite the mix of tears. “I have a not-so-crazy idea, sheriff.”

”Yeah? And what might that be, Mrs. Romero?” He replies with another peck on her lips.

“What if we...” she pauses, circling her finger on his chest. “Hear me out, okay?” He nods at her request, a smirk playing on his lips. “Live in Hawaii,” his eyebrows shoot up at her wild idea, but she presses her finger on his lips to stop him from cutting her off. “Think about it. Just you and me. Fresh start. No DEA, no town hatred, no drug business history that’s out to get you, no drama-”

” _Less_ drama,” he corrects. “Hey, it’s okay, you can’t help it,” he deadpans, earning himself a light smack on his chest and an eyeroll. After a bit, he adds, “and Norman?”

She shrugs at his question, looking out of the front as if something outside’s suddenly exciting. She feels his hands enveloping her own, urging her to look back and answer. “He’s still my son, Alex, if and when he’s better, he can come stay with us if he wants to.”

He simply nods with pure understanding, “I know.”

“So, half-cop and half-felon, shall we get going?”

And so they did, ready to hustle back to their home and throw everything in a luggage, before the DEA could get to them. Except when they arrive, they’re already there, black vans littering the front of the motel and their house.

Without anymore thought, he steps on the gas and further they go. Norma whines about her car, but he reassures her that they’ll be back to get it and their other stuff. Slowly but surely.

He figures that his conscience couldn’t take all this running away and keeping the cop car at once, so he knows he’d have to bring it back at some point. After all, he’s still the best sheriff the town never knew they had.

It was a long trip from then on, driving from White Pine Bay, Oregon to San Diego, where they stayed at for a week. They feel like sneaky teenagers whenever they go back to the Bates residence to pack their belongings without anyone spotting them.

On their last pack, Romero decides to leave his van in front of the Bates Motel instead, along with its keys in the glove compartment. He scribbles a note, saying “it’s been a pleasure working for White Pine Bay” and tucks it under the windshield wiper. They ride Norma’s Mercedes-Benz back to the San Diego motel.

They are able to garner enough money from selling the TV and other smaller furniture they were able to stuff in the van on their second haul day, along with what’s left of Bob Paris’ getaway cash. Who would have known that he would practically accept Bob’s offer of leaving town?

When they board the cruise, they merely had three full luggages in the trunk. The car is shipped to their new home in Oahu, while they continue island hopping and cozying up in the ship. After all, they’ve been through so much in the past year that a vacation is well deserved.

By the time they actually move in, they almost know everyone in their small town, much like White Pine Bay. They take their time going to social gatherings to build their rapport with their new neighbors to have a great fresh start instead of keeping to themselves. (Which amps them up for some alone time for hobbies meant for two.)

Funnily enough, Norma lands a position as a motel receptionist and Alex is granted an officer position in their town’s police department, all because of their good experience. Who knows? Maybe owning the motel and earning a sheriff position are in their future.

After all, they heard Rebecca was arrested for money laundering and his perjury case was dropped, so there was no need of changing their identities. Again, thanks to Regina for the wonderful news.

Everything is going in their favor, never perfectly, but way better than what they would have gotten from Oregon. So when Alex comes home to Norma crying, playing a sad tune on the piano with a glass of red wine nearby, he is dumbfounded.

With her back towards him, he walks closer to her as quietly as possible. Of course, her music has always been so beautiful despite the evident sadness in it, so he doesn’t want to distract.

When she notices him idling by, she stands up and steps closer, wrapping her arms around him. He embraces back before asking, “Is there something wrong?”

“Mmm,” she hums, closing her eyes as she lets her tears flow easily. “That’s the problem. There isn’t.” She smiles half heartedly and plants a kiss on his cheek, before leaning her head against his chest like she’s listening for his heartbeat. “I guess I’m just not used to it yet, you know?

“All this feels like vacation and it’s just now sinking in that we’re never going back. Don’t get me wrong, I love it here. And just seeing you makes all these tears unnecessary because you make it all better. It’s not like we’ve completely cut the chord with everyone anyway, getting to talk to them at least once a week is nice.” She looks up at him and they share a lingering kiss that makes Norma giggle. “Sorry, I’m blabbering. Just need a little getting used to is all. I love you.”

With stars in his eyes and a smile on his lips, he answers, “I love you too.” He rubs at her arms to soothe her before saying, “don’t you worry, okay, baby? I’ll make this feel like home.”


End file.
